A colleague and I will be attending the Annual European Information Architecture Conference in Edinburgh. The entire conference programme looks very promising, but the following talks seem particularly interesting from my point of view:

Future Reading — New Reading Spaces and Emerging Patterns for Information Architects
Although the end of the book has been long since been announced, the new reading spaces that may supplant or replace are in flowering development. Interaction designers and information architects will have a key role in creating these new spaces, in maximizing the new opportunities for experiencing text and media, and in defining new grammars of touch interaction with medium and long-form content.

This is Not Your Parents’ Pattern Library — A Fresh Approach in Defining Corporate Design Standards
Think pattern libraries are outdated? Think again. We’d like to challenge the perception of what makes a pattern and a pattern library. In this talk, we’ll discuss the fading relevance of traditional pattern libraries and show you what we’ve done to reinvigorate our Design Standards hub at eBay, making it more engaging and maximizing its usefulness.

Using Co-creation to Make Design Solutions that Work
As UX designers, simply crafting a beautiful solution and presenting it well is not enough. Getting it accepted by and sold to a client is the true challenge! The best way to do this is involving your client directly in the design process and having him co-create the solution.

The Architecture of Visual Information
When the Internet began, it was mostly a text-based world. Connections were slow, and the digital camera was still a prototype in Kodak’s labs. Today, it’s incredibly easy to create, store and transmit images. Facebook is the world’s largest photo sharing website, with 300 million photos uploaded every day. And although capturing an image is currently conscious decision, in the near future we’ll increasingly deal with images that are captured automatically (perhaps through our Google Glasses), with humans taking more of an editorial role.

I hope I can find the time to write a blogpost or two during the conference. Otherwise, I will try to wrap it up later on.